Chasing tides in New Brunswick

By Glen Bruels
This is part of a series called Eastern Canada 2018
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After a great time in PEI, it was time to move on to New Brunswick to experience the up to 50 foot tidal shifts in the Bay of Fundy.  While he had arrived on PEI from Nova Scotia, we left PEI on the Confederation Bridge, an 8 mile span that connects to New Brunswick.  They claim that this is the longest bridge in the world that crosses ice-covered water.  That seems to be somewhat of an obscure claim to me but hey, after spending nearly 4 years and around $3B, I would probably be looking for some superlatives too.  There was a lot of controversy among islanders about whether or not to build this bridge.  Year-round, easy connectivity to the mainland is a good news/bad news story.  Ultimately, it was put to a vote and it only won by a 60-40 margin.  Coincidentally, in the mid-1960s, there had been similar proposals to connect the San Juan Islands (along with other points along the Puget Sound) by bridges.  Thankfully, that was shot down.  Anyway, it is easy (but certainly not cheap -$46 toll) to get across.

This is one of those times I will take the nav package’s guidance!
Generally open — closed during high winds (and probably runaway icebergs!).

We ended up using the little town of Alma as our base for exploring the area.  Our Airbnb cottage was way up in the hills, giving us an amazing view of the tidal changes in the harbor.  At Alma, the tidal change is “only” 30 feet, but that takes place in 6 hours.  And the horizontal distance that gets exposed can be over a mile.  It is pretty amazing to see fishing boats sitting on their keels in the harbor!

Almost high and low tide. View from our cottage. Pretty amazing!
Hope they don’t have to get out of town quickly!
It pays to advertise…
Enjoying some local fried clans. Pretty Tasty!
Why have the fishing boats done so well In Alma? They have giant fishermen!

But for us, the best place to experience the drama of the tidal change was up at Hopewell Rocks, where the “flowerpot” rock tower up to 70 feet above the ocean floor you are walking on.  The rocks are mostly sandstone and sedimentary conglomerate that have eroded after the millennia of tidal changes.  It was amazing to see and Deb was having a great time until I talked her into a shortcut that turned out to be more of a challenge course — made worse by the driving rain!

Views of the “flowerpots.” You ted to forget how tall they are until you are standing near one.
Amazing landscapes!
Lots of flowerpots…
… but also lots of tunnels…
… and caves.
Deb wasn’t too thrilled with my “shortcut.”
As we were leaving, we saw this sign in the window. When is the last sign you saw something like this? Good for them!

The other thing we became interested in is the area’s many covered bridges — most of which are still in use.  We hadn’t been aware of this, so we challenged ourselves to find them.  We found several of them, even though it meant taking our car through some treacherous, pothole laden dirt roads (hey, it’s a rental car — although we did feel guilty enough to get it washed!).  Of course, there were the ever present lighthouses that we never seem to tire of.

Wandering around looking for covered bridges. Some were close to the highway and easy to find.
But in other cases, we never found the bridge we were looking for, but found lots of other interesting things — like this lighthouse…
… or this shipwreck…
… that could have been Glen’s first command…
… but actually turned out to be part of a park. Pretty cool!
We also found an old graveyard. Yeah, I know — bad taste…
This is the light at Cape Enrage. We were intrigued by the name, but this is one of the few that have been privatized, yet still operates — along with the adventure course, zip line, restaurant, and obligatory gift shop. Having said that, they saved it, so good on them!
Our final two covered bridges were inside Fundy National Park — this one was easy to get to…
The other came at the end of a rental car-destroying logging road.

It also turned out that the town of Alma was right on the edge of Fundy National Park and, while we didn’t get to spend nearly as much time as we would have liked there, we saw a number of the highlights and got a few hikes in.

Views of the bay from Fundy National Park.
Dickson Falls. Very peaceful down there.
Lots of inlets

As our next stop was going to require a ferry ride back to Nova Scotia, we ended up driving down to St. John, New Brunswick for an afternoon and evening.  St. John is primarily an industrial town, but there are some charming areas and an ongoing redevelopment that is starting to create a happening arts and entertainment area.

The reversing rapids in St. John. There are times that the tidal flow from the Bay of Fundy will actually drive the rapids in the opposite direction. With the Spring flows, however, it doesn’t happen very often. In any regard, the kayakers love it!
Including a gazebo and fountain dedicated to the short-lived King Edward VII, before he abdicated and married Wallis Simpson.
But also lots of contemporary art. You can see this artist’s (John Hooper) work around the city.
Deb makes a new friend.

Anyway, the following drizzly morning saw us off to the last part of our trip —southern Nova Scotia.

This entry was posted in Canada, New Brunswick, Travel
Glen Bruels

I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.

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